UFC's Brodie Farber refocused after devastating debut defeat

The flow of a mixed martial arts fight can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask Brodie Farber (13-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

Farber had Rory Markham in trouble early in their July UFC Fight Night 14 bout. One well-timed kick from Markham later, and Farber had earned himself a spot on the wrong side of a highlight-reel knockout.

“I guess (I had) a lack of mental focus for a second,” Farber recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I watched [the fight] quite a few times afterward. I just got too confident. [Markham] said he threw that kick just to get me away from him right when I was leaning in to throw a punch. It was just me doing something wrong and him doing something right more than anything.”

Farber was carrying a six-fight win streak into that UFC-debut bout with Markham. The 28-year-old looked well on his way to winning that bout before the perfectly timed blow ended his night.

“I know I was real comfortable,” Farber said. “I know I had him in trouble. That’s kind of what I remember last in the fight, just hitting him and hitting him and walking him down — then pretty much just waking up.”

After the disappointing loss, Farber said he rededicated himself to his training routines.

“As soon as I could, I started training,” Farber said. “Actually I went out to Thailand. I was out there for a month with Jon Fitch and Nate Mohr, and trained my ass off. I ran every morning, trained twice a day. I came back and kept it up. More than anything just take it as serious as possible.”

Farner will now get a second chance in the organization on Wednesday’s “UFC Fight Night 16: UFC Fights for the Troops.” Farber said he will be ready when he steps in the cage with Luigi Fioravanti.

“Before that last fight, I was off for quite some time,” Farber said. “I got the call and tried to make up for it. I don’t know if that had any role in the fight. I’m just 100 percent ready to go this time.”

With seven knockouts or TKO’s in his 13 career victories, Fioravanti is known for having a solid set of hands. Farber also prides himself on his boxing talents.

“I still feel that way,” Farber said. “Minus the kicks, I would have been just fine [against Markham].”

Farber hopes to use those talents, along with some new skills he picked up during his training in Thailand, in a stand-up battle with Fioravanti.

“He’s got really good takedown defense, so I don’t want to waste a lot of energy trying to take him down,” Farber said. “I know I’ve got better range and skill on my feet. He’s a tough guy. I just plan on going out there and having him stay there for 15 minutes, and having a hard fight. I’m just ready for whatever he does.”

And while a second-straight defeat in the UFC could possibly warrant a release from the organization, Farber isn’t worried about anything that happens outside of the cage.

“The pressure is that there’s another man that’s going to be in front of me trying to beat me up,” Farber said. “I put all this time into training. That’s where the pressure is. It’s not if I’m going to have a place in the UFC. It’s just the pressure that I put on myself, that I want to perform well for myself and all the people that have put their time and effort in to me — just get the rewards for all the hard work.

“Obviously I want to keep fighting in the UFC, but that’s something that I don’t really think about too much.”

Instead, Farber will try and display the skills that had him well on his way to earning a UFC win — while ensuring the momentary lapse that cost him the fight is avoided.

“I’d never been knocked out in my life,” Farber said. “No one ever really hurt me in practice or anything like that. He hit me right and lights out. I just had to realize I do have that button like everybody else.”

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